Where’s Your Paradise?

Paradise. It’s 2011, and with travel being so inexpensive, most of us have found paradise already, right? Its streaks of blue and white; sandy in all the right places and desperately empty. Its daubs of warm and balmy; soft on your ears, yet tangy on the tastebuds

Walk with me, traveller.

Pad slowly through paradise and scoop up some momentary peace amid the crackle and dazzle of your day.

Now, forgive me for interrupting this blissful moment of yours; but I ask you to shake the sand from the shadows of your buttocks, to step into the shade and take a cold shower.

I’d like to know where paradise is.

I believe you know.

I do too.

Paradise, for me, is far away from the curtsy of crashing waves, or the respectful bow of a glowing palm tree.

For a start, my paradise is found in the shallows of autumn, as appose to the height of summer. I feel autumn is full of spice and fragility: a season infused with blazing survival, while all around me, people are active. They’re doing things, before the onset of those dark months.

Of course, I’m generalising an autumn here in my home country, England. A few months ago while naively cascading through a tetris of Bangkok flights, I realised that I’ve travelled to many places around the world in autumn. Yet, in many ways, never been there at all.

My paradise also features the gentle flow of water, because I find my paradise on misty riverbanks.

As we’re English too (but choose to live in Turkey) our paradise is actually in England. Probably shouldn’t say that should I? Our paradise is sitting on top of one of the Lakeland fells on a crisp, clear January day, overlooking surrounding fells, valley and lake. Would love to be trekking around there right now and then sitting in front of a roaring fire in a pub with a pint of bitter. Maybe next year…
Julia

If you do any posts on the Lakes, we’ll be holding you responsible for making us jump on the next available flight back to Manchester, driving straight up the M6 and getting in amongst the Lakeland fells!

Hmmm…such a difficult question to answer and before you asked I had not even thought of it!

My paradise is somewhere in the hills, any hills as long as there are forests and silence (with only sounds of the wind in the trees), when its chilly yet not cold, when am alone and with lots of beautiful thoughts in within. And of course with a notebook, where I could write my thoughts…

I may be considered strange… but paradise for me – or perhaps where I just love to be? – is in a bustling, unfamiliar city, surrounded by a language I don’t know, by people who are just going about their daily business. Standing in the middle of this craziness with a smile on my face, completely clueless.

Of course, this needs to be followed by a breather on a beach somewhere, white sand, clear water. Just to get my sanity back!

I had to think about this awhile. I’ve been to so many cool places – laid on the beach in Bora Bora, ate amazing food in Paris, grew up in the beautiful Arizona desert.

But I realized my paradise is actually Peru. Yea, it is hard. I won’t take a warm shower for months. I don’t always have electricity. I get awoken in the morning by a screaming monkey. But there is no where else where the food tastes so good after a hard day at work, or where I have laughed so hard with good friends. It is not for everyone, but I have an unshakable fondness for it.

I thought my paradise was going to be a white sandy beach lined with palm trees, but after travelling for the last two years…(tacky cliche to follow)…my paradise turns out to be sitting on a beach on a cloudy day in the south of Devon. I spent every year there as a kid, and now I’ve got a great sense of appreciation for the place.

Paradise, for me, is in a cottage nestled in the mountains, surrounded by the rush of green trees and cherry blossoms, a wine glass in my hand, my dogs at my heels, and my husband at my side. But, perhaps I am just old fashioned.

Paradise is the silent, hot afternoon of the tropical summer. Where we in the tropics usually slow down, take a siesta– this is the “winter” of our daily lives– and wait until the sun is less fierce so we may carry on.

It is during these times that we look out and see a breeze shaking the leaves of trees, a bird landing on a tall blade of grass, or a baby stirring in a woven hammock. It is the moment of our childhood, and that of vacations– vacant, quiet, laying on each other’s laps, grooming ourselves.

Once we enter the world of the white collar, “educated” work force, we no longer experience this, and when we do (whether home sick, or while travelling), it is blissful.

I’ve heard some wonderful things about Koh Lipe. If anyone wants to follow in Matt’s footsteps, I know he has some great posts on the region — and here’s a great site about Koh Lipe, Thailand: http://www.welovekohlipe.com/

If there’s one place I’d consider to be paradise, it will have to be El Nido, in Palawan with so many deserted islands, beaches, coves and lagoon to choose from. Hire an outrigger boat and ask your boatman to take you to Cadlao Lagoon for the day. Or to the two lagoons.

Paradise for me would be peace of mind, and I found my perfect spot a little over a year ago. It was on a tiny island called Batanes, which is at the northernmost tip of my home country. It’s known for its harsh weather, but also for its unspoilt beauty. The rolling hills stretch on for miles, and on the edge of one meadow, there is a patch of green on a bluff that’s safe enough to sit upon. I could imagine riding my bike daily to that spot to just sit there all day, watching the waves kiss the rocky shore below, book at hand and journal in tow. The serenity of something so simple yet so inspiring seems to unknot any tension. I have a picture here (https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VJBXcBP3epk/TIUY5EX53II/AAAAAAAAEfw/gUdtMklMwRM/s640/IMG_0421.jpg) and a video here (http://vimeo.com/user4883788) if you’d like to see; hopefully one day you guys can witness what I’m talking about for yourself as well.

Trekking after hours to see a high mountain lake and see the stunning views of South Island, now that is paradise but then I love the early mornings in Peacehaven along the clifftops, a chill in the air with a sunrise and peaceful. Hmm..

My paradise is a rather strange one…
It is a completely flat stretch if land that goes on forever, it is filled with green grass, a perfect shade of green. The grass is tall, not like HUGE tall, but the size that when you put your feet on it, it feels like walking on pillows
The sky is a perfect blue, with a few perfectly white clouds to accessorize it.
And the sun is at 12:00.
But the most Important part of this paradise…….

In the middle of this endless stretch of land, is an equally endless road
The road is 1 lane, it’s pavement docent look old, but docent look new ethier. And this road goes on forever, and ever, and ever.

And last but not least, on this road is me, with a 1933 BMW R4 motorcycle, with my long hair hanging out, and a 50′s style Lether jacket with the same style boots and jeans,
I hear my favorite music playing, not from an iPod, or anything really, it just starts to play, and I hear it

Sensational paradise, Mark! I was thinking it was a shame they built a highway through the middle of it, but you soon made me realise why. I hope you can find a small version of paradise sometime soon.

The Bwindi Impenetrable forest is my paradise. Walking through the virgin forest tracking mountain gorillas and the feeling of fresh air with minimal human interference in this region makes me go here often

What is my paradise? A big question indeed! How often we must all think of our little paradises, and how difficult it is to actually put it into words when asked. I think as cliche as it sounds my paradise resides on a pristine white beach, bathing in the sun and watching the gentle roll of the sea. Staring at the sea never fails to lift my spirits and remind me everything will work out just fine – what more is there to paradise than that feeling?

My paradise changes. Sometimes it is a sandy beach, and other times it is a fishing trip in the fall. As long as we get away from the same old monotony it doesn’t take much to turn a day into paradise.

I think my idea of paradise has changed over the years. It used to be on the beaches and in warm waters of the Carribbean. As I have got a bit older and have a family my paradise is now on the Atlantic Coast of France where we can go bodyboarding as a family. The happiest of happy days.

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I have been to Bhutan couple of times. It’s a place that could have existed only in my dreams. The calmness, its medieval age lifestyle, the amazing culture, the festivals, everything in Bhutan attracted me. No, doubt Bhutan is a paradise for me.

My paradise is at nightime in the little town of Lourdes, France. Covered by a star lit sky, mountains peaked with snow lining it, wandering warm vibrant streets with good friends. Theres something magical about walking down to the grotto at midnight and watching the thousands of people walking in unison singing with their candles lit; locals, travellers, believers, the sick, volunteers wheeling the sick, people from all over the world. You can feel the love, friendship, belief, and hope in the air. Truly a vision of the human spirit at it’s best.

Tirupathi Venkateshwara temple is a famous Vedic temple in the hill town of Tirumala, near Tirupati in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is the richest temple in the world in terms of donations received and wealth, and the most-visited place of worship in the world. The temple is visited by about 50,000 to 100,000 pilgrims daily, while on special occasions and festivals, like the annual Brahmotsavam, the number of pilgrims shoots up to 500,000, making it the most-visited holy place in the world. This place is devoted to Lord Vishnu, it has a compelling icon of the Lord.

We at http://www.chennaitotirupati.com believe in dedication and we provide reliable services at affordable rate to each and every customer. Our tour packages will be through AC Tempo Traveller, Luxury Innova / Tavera Cars, We also provide rent a vehicle services including all luxury vehicles like, Tata Indica, Tata Indigo, Toyota Innova, Chevrolet Tavera, Toyota Etios etc. In all our packages we guide for Sheegra darshan till sheegra darshan counter for you to get assured Quick Darshan.

It is about 90 km for your Ninh Binh tour from Hanoi that takes about 2 hours to drive there. You will have a chance to head to the region of Red river delta with the geographical feature of from 19050′ to 20027′ at Northern latitude and from 105032′ to 106033′ at Eastern longitude. In terms of location, the North of Ninh Binh is Ha Nam, the East is Nam Dinh and it shares the administrative border with Thanh Hoa in the West and Southwest. The remain side is near to the East Sea.

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